Sunday, January 18, 2009

Pulling up to Randy White's (of Dallas Cowboys fame) Hall of Fame BBQ, you notice that Coach Joe's (also of Cowboys fame) Sports Grille shares a parking lot. I don't know if they always planned to share a parking lot in Frisco, but this restaurant rivalry seems odd. Even more odd is that they both have a chicken fried steak on their menu that they call a "Texas Fried Steak". Either way, I was happy to be here, and happy that my wife agreed to eat lunch at a BBQ joint with me rather than making me run in and grab something to go.

Thanks to my wife's generosity with the contents of her plate, I was able to try four meats here: brisket, pork ribs, black pepper sausage, and smoked ham. The brisket held great promise with a well-formed crust, a substantial smoke line and pull-apart tenderness. The presentation bordered on false advertising as these slices were pure roast beefyness. Even the crust held very little smoke flavor. Luckily the slightly thin and spicy sauce complemented this meat well. The St. Louis ribs didn't have much smoke flavor either. The crust was decent, but the meat below not very tender and had little flavor at all. The thick lines of unrendered fat that I had to cut away from the meat told me that this meat needed alot more time in the smoker. The ham had a mealy recontituted texture that often occurs with boneless ham. It also had little smoke flavor, so the wife really enjoyed it. The sausage here was the best of the bunch. They offer smoked sausage, jalapeno sausage, and black pepper sausage. The black pepper sausage lived up to its name. It had a medium grind, good snap, good smoke flavor, and tons of cracked black peppercorns. Randy may have made it all the way to the Hall of Fame, but his BBQ has a long road ahead for any such accolades.

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DISCLAIMER:

Each joint is judged on the essence of Texas 'cue...sliced brisket and pork ribs. Sausage is only considered if house made. Sauce is good, but good meat needs no adornment to satisfy. Each review can only be based on specific cuts of meat on that particular day. Finally, if the place fries up catfish or serves a caesar salad, then chances are they aren't paying enough attention to the pits, so we mostly steered clear.

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GLOSSARY

Crust - Layer of black goodness around the edges of brisket or ribs that holds excellent flavor.

Meat Caramel - After gratuitous amounts of smoke are applied, and liquid rendered fat has come to the surface of the meat to mix with the applied rub, a chemical rendering takes place that creates a sweet sticky layer on the surface of the meat that clings to the tip of your finger when pulled away from the meat. This is affectionately known as meat snot.

Parboiled - A process in which ribs are boiled before being grilled or smoked. This is what makes meat fall off the bone, and it also leaves good, flavorful fat in the water. It's cheating.Rendered - The process of cooking fat until it literally melts into the meat. Cook it too fast and the fat is absent from the meat creating dryness. If it's not cooked long enough, the fat remains gelatinous and unsavory. There's no need to put well rendered fat aside.Roast-Beefy - Brisket that hasn't been bathed in smoke, but rather tastes as if it was thrown in an oven like any hunk of roast beef. It might be good food, but it's not BBQ.Sauced - Unsolicited BBQ sauce slathered over top of your meat, usually to add what was non-existent flavor in the meat.Smoke Line - Red line around the outside edge of sliced brisket just below the crust that signifies an adequate amount of time in the smoker.Sugar Cookie - Fat that turns to a slightly sweet and crispy flavorful nugget after copius amounts of smoke are applied.